1 Peter (Program #24) – The Elders’ Shepherding and Its Reward (1)

Peter, we all know was one of the original disciples of the Lord Jesus.   He also became an apostle and was very much used by the Lord to bring the church into being in both the Jewish world and the gentile world.  But in addition, he was the elder in Jerusalem.  It was on this basis that he wrote personally to all the elders in various churches in chapter 5 of his first epistle.  His words of exhortation surely were helpful in instructing the elders of various matters concerning how to govern the church.  But if you consider his own life and experience, they are also words of tremendous inspiration as well.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

James (Program #10) – A Life Not Fully According to and for God’s New Testament Economy (1)

In Acts chapter 2, the apostle Peter spoke boldly to his Jewish kinsman, “be saved from this crooked generation.”   Some time later, the apostle  Paul reminded the Jewish believers that God had rescued them out of the present evil age.  The context of both passages makes it clear that these strong words, “the crooked generation” and “the present evil age” both refer to the religious system that had become modern Judaism at the time when God was ushering the New Testament economy.

Peter and Paul made it very clear God was calling people out of that religious system.  Yet in other New Testament passages, it is equally clear that the apostle  James was not only comfortable receiving the Jews into the fellowship of believers, he was even willing to accommodate the major practices of Judaism into the church.  Well what lessons can we glean from this confused situation today?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS